| Whether you're a serious poker player, a casual player, or simply an interested viewer, there's a lot of fun to be had in watching the best poker players in the world go at it in a high-stakes game at the top level. World Poker Tour:
Bad Boys of Poker gives us a ticket to a special event, a
hand-picked final table with five of the best poker players on the
scene... plus one additional player, a lucky amateur who got his spot
through a WPT sweepstakes. The result is a very entertaining
tournament in which every participant is interesting to watch, and
that features some great hard-hitting play from beginning to end. Fans of poker may be familiar with
some or all of the "bad boys" here, but in any case, the
program does a nice job of introducing each one before the tournament
and also giving us more information about them as the tournament
continues. The assembled players here are all leading money-winners
or WPT winners: Danish player and multiple WPT event-winner Gus
Hansen, "The Magician" Antonio Esfandiari, "The
Unabomber" Phil Laak, "Devilfish" David Ulliot, and
Paul "The Truth" Darden. And, of course, one nervous bank
teller from Illinois, Mark Richards, swimming with the sharks. I'm not going to spoil who wins or
who doesn't, since that's a lot of the fun of watching this program.
I'm pleased to report that the program itself maintains the suspense
up to the very end, with no spoilers or hints at all: not in the
feature, not in the menu, and not even in the back-cover copy of the
DVD case. That's nice to see. The one thing I'll say is there's quite
a bit of exciting play in this tournament, even at the very end. With a title like "Bad Boys,"
I wondered at first if this program would be simply a showcase for bad behavior on the part of the players. Fortunately, that's
not the case at all ? in fact, these players all show a great
sense of good sportsmanship. They're at it tooth and nail in the game
itself, but when one of them gets knocked out, he handles it with
style. Where the "bad boy" behavior comes into the scene, I
think, is simply in the aggressive playing style that many of them
have, as well as their various eccentricities, which may annoy or
distract their opponents. In any case, the mix of personalities at
the table makes for an interesting game, and fortunately one that
stays focused on playing the hands. The World Poker Tour: Bad Boys of
Poker program was originally made for television, and so we do
end up with "and we'll be right back!
" breaks in the action
where commercials would have been inserted, but overall, the program
flows smoothly and at a fairly brisk pace. To be sure, there's some
fluff; the hour-and-a-half program could easily have been trimmed to
a single hour without losing any of the real action. Even so, though,
it's short enough that a little padding doesn't hurt too much.
With a combination of mini-cameras
taking a peek at the players' hole cards, overhead views of the
table, and on-screen graphics displaying the cards in play as well as
the amounts bet by each player, the program does a great job of
keeping the viewer completely up to speed as to what's going on in
the game. The commentators likewise draw attention to the noteworthy
elements of the game, with poker lingo quickly explained at various
points in the program. Except for one short segment on the rules of
Texas Hold 'Em that advanced players may decide to fast-forward
through, the integration of newcomer-friendly information into the
overall program is handled very well, so that advanced players and
newbies alike will find the program entertaining. The DVD
Video
Bad Boys of Poker appears in
its original television aspect ratio of 1.
33:1. The transfer offers a
perfectly respectable viewing experience; the image looks clean and
natural, with a good level of detail and no flaws in the image. Audio
The Dolby 2.
0 soundtrack is, like
the video transfer, quite satisfactory. The commentators come across
clearly, and for the most part, we also hear the players at the table
just fine. Extras
The best special feature is the
commentary track with Antonio Esfandiari ("The Magician")
and Phil Laak ("The Unabomber").
The two keep up an entertaining and interesting commentary laced with
friendly banter; this track definitely adds a lot to the replay value
of the DVD. One word of warning: the commentary makes it very clear
who wins and who gets knocked out early, so you should watch the
program first without the commentary, to enjoy the suspense. The other special features are
biographies of the "bad boys," and a section of "Bad
Boy Moments.
" These are video clips from other World Poker Tour
events that feature various high-profile poker players (mostly
different ones than the ones in the Bad Boys of Poker main
program) acting up in some way, either trash-talking or reacting in
enthusiasm or despair to the results of a hand. It's only mildly
interesting, since we don't have much context for the clips. Final thoughts
I found World Poker Tour: Bad
Boys of Poker to be quite entertaining, more so than I expected.
It covers a single invitational tournament, with five "bad boys"
and one newcomer at the table, from beginning to end, and includes
quite a bit of exciting play. The commentary track with Antonio
Esfandiari and Phil Laak adds a nice touch of replayability to the
program as well. Recommended.
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Whether you're a serious poker player, a casual player, or simply an interested viewer, there's a lot of fun to be had in watching the best poker players in the world go at it in a high-stakes game at the top level. World Poker Tour:
Bad Boys of...